YES! Another fic! Damn, I'm good! Anyway, this is only my second crossover
and it is also the first time that I am trying to write about a few of the
characters in this fic. So, forgive me if anyone is OOC. I just hope that
someone will actually read this story. PLEASE! Okay, enough begging. ON
WITH THE STORY!

Of Emeralds And Demons

Chapter 1: What's been happening and what will be

It has been nearly a year after the defeat of Metal Sonic aboard Eggman's
air fleet. Since then, things have been pretty quiet. Sonic and Shadow now
share an apartment in Station Square and are still competing to see which
one of them is the superior even though they are friends.

Tails still lives in his workshop at the Mystic Ruins, working on his
numerous inventions.

Rouge gave up treasure hunting for the time being and is making a good
living on Angel Island with Knuckles, who is still guarding the master
emerald.

Tikal and Chaos are now living on the outside of the emerald on Angel
Island as well and so far, they couldn't be happier.

Big is still living near the mystic ruins in his house, fishing with Froggy
by his side.

Omega is no longer starved for revenge and basically goes where he pleases.
But he never goes beyond the Mystic Ruins.

Espio, Charmy, and Vector are still in the detective business. But, it has
bee pretty slow lately.

Amy is still living in her apartment in Station Square and is still trying
to get Sonic to marry her. Cream the rabbit and Cheese the chao are new
sharing her apartment with her.

As for Dr. Eggman, he grew tired of his plans always failing and gave up on
world domination. He now seeks to better mankind in any way possible.

Anyway, the story begins on Angel Island one normal day...

Tikal sat on top of a stone that overlooked the emerald shrine with her
legs crossed, the breeze ruffling her dress a little. She sighed. "I'm
bored."

She was about to jump down when she saw none other than her friend, Chaos.
Chaos sure had changed over the years. It was hard to believe that this
gentle water demon with a heart of gold had leveled half of the city a
while back. Chaos waved at her and beckoned her down from her sitting
position to the ground.

She slid off of the stone and landed in front of Chaos. She gave a polite
wave which her readily returned. "Hello, Chaos. What's wrong?"

Chaos sighed. Over the time he had spent with Tikal and her friends, her
had learned how to speak English quite well. "It's Knuckles and Rouge
again."

Tikal sighed again. Ever since Rouge had decided to come and live on this
island, Knuckles and her had been fighting constantly.

"Where are they and what is it this time?" she asked her liquid friend.

Chaos pointed one hand towards a clump of trees and stated, "Over there, by
the lake. Knuckles accused Rouge of trying to steal the master emerald
again."

Tikal shook her head as she began walking towards the spot where Rouge and
Knuckles were fighting. "This is the fifth time this week."

Chaos nodded. "I know. And the sad part is, it's only Monday."

******

Knuckles stared defiantly at Rouge. "Would you stop denying it already? I
know that you were trying to get at the emerald again!"

Rouge put her hands on her hips. "God damn it, Knucklehead! I already told
you that I wasn't going to take it. You already made me promise about a
thousand times not to take it when you let me on the island!"

This was nothing out of the ordinary. First, the argument would start and
either a fist fight would break out between them, or Tikal and Chaos would
come and break it up. Luckily for both their health's sake, this time it
was the latter.

Tikal and Chaos stumbled into the clearing where they were just in time to
hear Rouge defending herself. Tikal walked in between Rouge and Knuckles,
extending her arms to keep them from getting any closer to strangling each
other. "Guys, knock it off. Knuckles, she already promised that she
wouldn't try and take the emerald."

Then, Chaos looked at Rouge. "As for you, Rouge, I think that you should
watch your language."

Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other. Then, Knuckles scoffed. "Fine. But
if you do come anywhere near the emerald, I'm not gonna let Tikal and Chaos
talk me out of tying your wings together and throwing you off the edge of
the island."

Rouge turned away. "I'd like to see you try!"

Everyone was about to go back to their regular tasks when Tikal clutched
her head and fell to the ground.

Everyone rushed to her side and Chaos bent down and helped her to her feet.
"What's wrong, Tikal?" asked Knuckles.

Tikal was still clutching her head as she said, "Something is wrong with
the master emerald."

No one needed any further motivation. Knuckles and rouge were off in an
instant and Chaos picked up Tikal, carrying her bridal style.

When they arrived, they discovered that Tikal had been correct. Something
was indeed wrong with the emerald. It was glowing brightly and it was
changing colors from green to red and back again.

Knuckles knew that they wouldn't be able to figure this out on their own.
"Rouge, you still have your cell phone, right?"

Rouge nodded. Knuckles said, "Then call up Tails and tell him to get up her
fast with whoever else will come!"

Rouge nodded again and took out her phone. She dialed a few numbers and the
dial tone began ringing.

******

Sonic and Shadow were down at Big's place. They were, as usual, having
another race. Big was just watching, considering that it was his place they
were racing at. The Chaotix detective agency was there as well to act as
judges.

Vector was going over the rules for the race. "Now remember, it is one full
lap around the jungle. The first one back here is the winner."

Sonic and Shadow nodded.

Espio stood before them and so did Charmy, holding the flag that would
signal them to star. Espio said, "One more thing. No shortcuts are allowed
during this match. This is nothing but a friendly footrace. You are also
not allowed to use chaos attacks either."

Sonic looked toward Shadow. "Just be ready to lose, bud."

Shadow nodded. "Of course. But, it is you who will be losing before this
day is out."

Charmy held the flag above his head. "On your mark, get set..."

"Sonic!" shouted Tails.

Sonic and everyone else looked up to see Tails, and Amy in the X-tornado
and Cream, Cheese, and Eggman in his slightly modified Egg Walker.

Sonic smirked. "Yo, Tails! What's up?"

Shadow, however, was less hospitable. "This had better be important, Tails.
We were about to start a race before your little intrusion."

Amy jumped out of the plan and landed in front of Shadow. "Forget your
stupid race! We just got a call from Rouge and it looks like something odd
is going on with the master emerald!"

The fact that she was right up in his face was enough to humble Shadow for
the moment. He had learned through experience not to cross her.

Vector hopped into one of the extra seats that Eggman had installed into
his Egg Walker. "So, what exactly is going on up there?" he asked.

Eggman turned to his former detective employee and said, "According to
Rouge, it just suddenly started to change colors and glow. Add to it, my
radars have picked up the seven chaos emeralds. They are moving on their
own towards the master emerald."

Just then, Omega emerged from the bushes. He approached Eggman's vehicle.
"Disturbances were detected. Primary mission: find and stop disturbance."

Eggman nodded, glad that he was back on good terms with the robot.

Tails and Amy hopped back into the X-tornado. "With the Egg walker, the X-
tornado, and Omega, we should have enough seats for everyone.

Everyone else nodded. Even though Charmy was capable of flight, he couldn't
keep up with the machines, no matter how hard he tried. He hopped onto one
of the seats in the X-tornado. Espio joined Vector in the Egg Walker. Sonic
and Shadow hopped onto Omega's shoulders.

They were all about to take off when they heard someone say, "Wait for me!"

They all turned to see Big running towards them. He now had Froggy on his
head and he was carrying his lucky umbrella and fishing pole.

Placing the umbrella into a strap on his back, he grabbed one of Omega's
hand with his free one.

Shadow looked at the oversized cat and then to Omega. "Omega, are you sure
that you'll be able to lift him?" he asked.

Omega answered, "Do not worry, Shadow. Censors indicate that total carrying
wheight is only 784.94 lbs. I am capable of lifting up to twenty-five
hundred pounds."

Shadow nodded. Then, everyone took off.

******

After about ten minutes of flying, they reached the Angel Island. They all
landed near the emerald shrine.

Everyone except for Eggman got out of the vehicles. Instead, he switched it
to mech mode and took it toward the emerald.

Sonic and Shadow were the first to reach the point where Knuckles, Rouge,
Chaos, and Tikal were standing.

Sonic looked toward the emerald to see that Rouge was not exaggerating when
she had said that something strange was happening to the emerald. "You guys
sure weren't kidding about that emerald."